Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Has anyone seen this before?

http://www.blutrade.de/Guitars/Johnson_JP-LPD-T/johnson_jp-lpd-t.html

Loks like a very 'professional' ripoff to me, and at a very 'commercial' price. I've already emailed John Hall with it, BTW.

Nice catch. Good for you. One thing I noticed -- no fifth blend knob.

Well then, how can you call that a fake!

Unreal. Probably Chinese, at that preis.

Note the bound catseye and copy headstock. Antiqued Fireglo finish--they even call it "Fireglow".

Ve cut off your Johnson, boy.

24 frets, wrong tail piece and wrong peg head angle.

Auch du liebe, looks und zounds like a Rickenfokker to me.

Spent a half-hour trying to locate any information at all on Johnson Guitars. Not being an industry insider, no luck, although they distribute very widely!

None of their dealers lists the Rippenfocker in this country. I'm not an Intellectual Property specialist, but I believe that RIC needs to seek patent protection in every country separately, and many countries (mostly emerging) have no IP laws.

This "looks like a Rick" thing would seem one of the most difficult things to protect outside our borders, seeing as the concept of "trade dress" probably varies. I wonder where it is in Germany? And I imagine that this guitar is sold in many markets.

Perhaps somebody with some better insight into this could comment?

My friends in other nations, Germany included, do NOT want Ric copies. They want real Rickenbackers.

NCR

"If you deal with the lowest [price], it is well to add something for the risk you are taking, and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better"

--My Ole Buddy Ruskin said that.

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."

--Warren Buffet said that.

While I realize (as Noel said) that most people will buy the real deal, there are still guys looking for the cheapest way out, who can't afford the real deal, and so on -- and that's where companies like Johnson will make their money. The rip off is in that they are making sales on Rickenbacker's name, reputation and quality -- but they aren't selling that same name, reputation and quality. Once the sale is made, Johnson and the other "Rippenfokkers" could care less. I'm with Paul on a need for international protection, but that's probably an impossible thing to achieve.

Paul, I wasn't necessarily calling for a need for international protection, as much as stating the not-so-obvious situation of each country having its own tradition and "take" on the issue of intellectual property exclusivity. One of my biggest shockers upon moving to Brasil (an odd place to American residents because of its mix of cutting-edge culture, progressive populism, and sheer poverty) was discovering that the country had no enforcement for intellectual property violations, whatsoever. As a sometime inventor and licensor of ideas, this was a huge wakeup call to me personally as to the state of the state, so to speak, in this area.

Every country has its own convention with regard to level and type of protection, not to mention enforcement options. Mechanical patents seem to be the most clear cut in general, but the area is still a gray minefield. And although many countries subscribe to the UCC (Geneva) of 1952 and its modified version (Paris, 1971), notably absent signatories are China and India.

I'm not a lawyer, I repeat, but my experience indicates that mechanical patents must go through a tedious process of registration in each individual country in which protection is desired.

Any attorneys among us who might wish to correct me or add something to this?

Paul Wiczynski sez: "an odd place to American residents because of its mix of cutting-edge culture, progressive populism, and sheer poverty"

Are you sure you're not talking about your move to San Francisco?

I'm not a big fan of SF, either, Adam, or were you just trying to bait me again? I came here because this is where the most challenging work is. And, aside from homeless people who can be found in numbers on the streets of most warmer cities, sheer poverty is not a feature of this city.

Not even Close!
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